Technics SP-10 MKII

mep

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I just bought an SP-10 MKII on Audiogon that looks to be in very nice condition and is promised to have no isues with either the power supply or table. It does come with the orignal box and all the original packing material which is nice.

It does not come with a plinth and I'm wondering if there are any fellow SP-10 MKII owners here and if so, what you are using for plinths. I would also like to know what tonearms people are using.

And MikeL, if you are reading this, since you used to own a VPI TNT table close to the one I own, what are your thoughts about the SP-10 MKII compared to the sound of the VPI?

Mark
 

Bruce B

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Doesn't Albert P. build plinths for these things? I know Steve Dobbins did, but don't know if he does it anymore since he has his own TT line.
 

microstrip

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naturephoto1

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I just bought an SP-10 MKII on Audiogon that looks to be in very nice condition and is promised to have no isues with either the power supply or table. It does come with the orignal box and all the original packing material which is nice.

It does not come with a plinth and I'm wondering if there are any fellow SP-10 MKII owners here and if so, what you are using for plinths. I would also like to know what tonearms people are using.

And MikeL, if you are reading this, since you used to own a VPI TNT table close to the one I own, what are your thoughts about the SP-10 MKII compared to the sound of the VPI?

Mark

Hi Mark,

I do not have a Technics Sp-10 however, I have heard turntables prepared by Jonathan Weiss of OMA in his slate plinths. They perform extaordinarily well. Here is a link to his work and some photos:

http://www.oswaldsmillaudio.com/Products/turntables.html







Rich
 

mep

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Bruce-Albert does indeed build plinths for the SP-10. Their cost is just a little more dear than I want to pay right now. I have seen some other people that build plinths for the Technics that look pretty good for around $650-$700.
 

Mike Lavigne

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I just bought an SP-10 MKII on Audiogon that looks to be in very nice condition and is promised to have no isues with either the power supply or table. It does come with the orignal box and all the original packing material which is nice.

It does not come with a plinth and I'm wondering if there are any fellow SP-10 MKII owners here and if so, what you are using for plinths. I would also like to know what tonearms people are using.

And MikeL, if you are reading this, since you used to own a VPI TNT table close to the one I own, what are your thoughts about the SP-10 MKII compared to the sound of the VPI?

Mark

the SP-10 Mk2, depending on the condition, the arm mounted, the plinth it's installed in, and set-up, is capable of sounding dramatically better than the VPI TNT mK2 i owned in the 90's. a more current TNT HRX would be much closer to the SP-10 Mk2 but the SP-10 Mk2 i had was quite a bit better than any HRX i've heard. of course, it had been gone thru and tweaked (both motor and power supply) by Steve Dobbins, was installed in one of his plinths, and had a Schroeder Reference SQ arm. it was a very high end tt.

fully optimized, the SP-10 Mk2 has a wonderful solidity in the speed, great bass dynamics and articulation, and is very alive sounding. it also can have a very low noise floor. but.......the ultimate performance does require a quality plinth and arm that can take advantage of the quality of the motor and basic mechanicals.

there is no way to over state the value of the SP-10 <-> plinth <-> arm board <-> arm interface. the motor needs gounding and mass and the arm needs to be solid relative to the motor. it does not need to be pretty and there is more than one way to skin the cat assuming all those issues are handled.

i'm only really familiar with Dobbins and to a lesser degree Albert's work, so it's hard to recommend any others. i'd guess that OMA is pretty darn good too.....although i prefer a constrained layer plinth design to a one-piece plinth of any natural material since a layered design can be 'engineered' to sound a certain way consistently (read neutral and lively) and any one piece natural design will have some sort of 'sound'.

good luck with your project and congrats on getting a great tt.
 

mep

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Thanks Mike. I really appreciate your input.
 

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microstrip

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A boxed SP10 MK2 at Audiogon? You were really lucky!

If you have access to a good technician I would recommend changing all the electrolytic capacitors of the motor PCB and power supply. They must be over two decades old, and if they become faulty they can damage PCBs or ICs that are no more available. The capacitors are very inexpensive, cost will be mainly labor - I was charged about usd 150 for it in my SP10. After you have them exchanged the turntable should be prepared for operating during the next two decades!
 

mep

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Thanks microstrip. Having the original box and packing material was a definite plus for me and usually means that someone cared enough to save that stuff and hopefully took care of it. I should be able to change the caps out myself. The power supply would be real easy. I'm less certain on what is involved with opening the table and getting to where the caps are there that need to be replaced. Anyone know what the values are that I need and what's involved with opening up the bottom of the table?

Here are a couple of pics of the plinth that I'm having built right now. Mine will be done in cherry wood as well.

Mark
 

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microstrip

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mep,
It is all in the service manual - with parts lists and exploded views. Send me your email by pm and I will email it to you.
 

mep

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Microstrip-I appreciate your help. I went to the website you mentioned and downloaded the service and owner's manual. I'm surprised at the amount of electronics this table has.

Mark
 

Bruce B

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Mark... that's looks pretty cool. Is that one solid piece or layered? What are you going to sit it on? Footers?
 

mep

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Bruce,
It's made from multi-layers of baltic birch and then wrapped in hardwood-cherry in my case. As for footers, I'm not sure yet. It for sure will be sitting on my VPI TNT stand though and the huge board the table sits on has 4 spiked feet for adjustibility.

Mark
 

Mike Lavigne

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Bruce,
It's made from multi-layers of baltic birch and then wrapped in hardwood-cherry in my case. As for footers, I'm not sure yet. It for sure will be sitting on my VPI TNT stand though and the huge board the table sits on has 4 spiked feet for adjustibility.

Mark

Stillpoints have worked very well as footers for my 'The Beat', 2 Technics and Garrard. they are very linear and lively. some isolation footers can be too soft or dead sounding. tt's don't interface with racks and shelves the same way amps, preamps, and digital does.

in a perfect world you would audition a number of footer types and choose the best. or just get Stillpoints.

i agree with Bruce that the plinth is very nice looking.
 

mep

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Thanks for the tip on the stillpoints, no pun intended. I will take a look at them. Albert is strongly recommending I buy an SME 312S arm. Anyone have a line on a new one at a good price? It seems like no one in the U.S. sells them.

Mike-which stillpoints? Looks like there are lots of different models.

Mark
 

flez007

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Very nice table mep!, looks terrific and will surely sound great. I can't stress enough the importance of the right arm for your SP10, however I am not that knowledgabke with that particular model in order to recommend any specific one. My Scheu Tacco brought my Avid to another level of reproduction.
 

mep

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On Albert Porter's recommedation, I bought a new SME 312S tonearm from someone he recommended. Does anyone who has or had a Technics SP-10 MKII use a record clamp? If so, which one? Thanks.

Mark
 

Mike Lavigne

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Thanks for the tip on the stillpoints, no pun intended. I will take a look at them. Albert is strongly recommending I buy an SME 312S arm. Anyone have a line on a new one at a good price? It seems like no one in the U.S. sells them.

Mike-which stillpoints? Looks like there are lots of different models.

Mark

i looked at the Stillpoint footer pics on-line and could not clearly id the one's i use on my Garrard and Beat. if you find some post the lic and i'll do my best to id it.
 

c1ferrari

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I'm envious!!

I just bought an SP-10 MKII on Audiogon that looks to be in very nice condition and is promised to have no isues with either the power supply or table. It does come with the orignal box and all the original packing material which is nice.Mark

Congrats :p
 

mep

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The SME 312S arrived on Wednesday in perfect condition so I'm happy about that. I decided to have the plinth finished in satin black because I think it will look much better and contrast nicely with the brushed silver finish of the SP-10 MKII. The guy who is building the plinth said it might be ready for the finish this weekend so maybe I will have the project completed in a couple of weeks.

Mark
 

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